Guide · Landscapers

Weed control,
within the rules.

Ontario has banned cosmetic pesticide use on lawns and gardens since 2009, and the rules were reorganised in 2020. A lawn care company still sells weed control and grub treatment, but only with certain products, under two provincial licences, and with a lawn sign that is a legal notice rather than an ad. Here is what the Act and O. Reg. 63/09 say, and what it means for your website.

Published 2026-11-04 · Formory Marketing Group

Section 7.1 of the Pesticides Act says no person may use, or cause or permit the use of, an active ingredient in, on or over land unless the ministry's Director has found it appropriate for cosmetic use and listed it. The Act defines cosmetic as non-essential. Section 18 of O. Reg. 63/09 names the list: the List of Active Ingredients Authorized for Cosmetic Uses, or Allowable List.

Ontario's home lawns page says the ban covers lawns, vegetable and ornamental gardens, patios, driveways, parks and schoolyards, and names 2,4-D, diazinon and glyphosate as examples of banned ingredients. Section 7.1(5) makes municipal by-laws on cosmetic pesticides inoperative, so the provincial rule is the one that counts.

Ontario's Guide to pesticide classes explains the 2020 amendments. Ontario's classes now follow the federal ones: Class A Manufacturing, B Restricted, C Commercial, D Domestic, plus Class E for neonicotinoid-treated seed. The numbered classes 7 to 11 once used for the cosmetic ban were eliminated, and the Allowable List replaced the old Class 11.

If your website still talks about "Class 9" products, it describes a system that ended in 2020. The regulation now speaks of "unlisted pesticides": products containing any active ingredient that is not on the Allowable List.

The Using pesticides in Ontario page shows Version 5, effective November 28, 2022, with 82 active ingredients. They include corn gluten meal, iron as FeHEDTA, acetic acid, pelargonic acid, soaps of fatty acids, sulphur and several biological products. The ministry says it updates the list from time to time, so check it before each season.

The test is the label. The ministry's guide says a pesticide may be used for cosmetic purposes only if every active ingredient on the label is on the list. It also notes the federal label carries no Ontario-specific information, so a label that says "controls weeds in lawns" does not make the product legal here.

Section 7.1(2) exempts golf courses, agriculture, forestry, public health or safety, and other prescribed uses. Section 16 of the regulation defines public health or safety: animals that bite, sting, are venomous or carry disease, such as wasps, mosquitoes and ticks; plants poisonous by touch, such as poison ivy, poison sumac and giant hogweed; and pests that affect buildings, such as carpenter ants and termites.

Even then the product is limited. Under section 23, poisonous plants may be treated only with a herbicide whose sole active ingredient is glyphosate, glufosinate ammonium or both. Under section 25, an unlisted Class B or C product may be used to maintain a tree's health only with a written opinion from an ISA certified arborist, a registered professional forester or an arborist with a certificate of qualification, and neighbours in abutting residential properties must get written notice 24 hours to seven days ahead.

The ministry's guide is blunt: there is no exception for controlling weeds on lawns. Its example of a prohibited cosmetic use is controlling ants in grass. Grub control on a lawn appears nowhere in the exceptions either.

Section 5(1) of the Act bars anyone from engaging in, performing or offering to perform an extermination without a licence, and section 5(2) requires a licence to operate an extermination business. Ontario's licensing page puts it plainly: unless exempt, you need an exterminator licence to apply pesticides commercially on property you or your employer do not own or farm. Using only Allowable List products does not change that; the regulation's Class D exemptions in section 51 cover things like tree wound dressings, wood preservatives and enclosed baits, not lawn treatments.

For lawns the class is Landscape. Section 68 lets it cover turf and ornamental plantings on residential, recreational, commercial or public land, pests on the outside of buildings linked to those plantings, and treed areas up to one hectare. An applicator must be at least 16 and have passed an approved course within the past 12 months. The licence lasts five years and costs $90.

The business needs an operator licence of the General class: $200, expiring each December 31. An individual operator must be a licensed exterminator. Section 93 requires employers' liability cover of at least $1,000,000 (unless the business is a WSIB Schedule 1 or 2 employer that has paid its premiums), commercial general liability of $2,000,000 and pollution liability of $1,000,000. Section 88(4) requires one licensed exterminator for every three or fewer technicians or trainees. Section 89 requires a ministry identification marker on the rear of every vehicle used to carry or apply pesticides, and section 87 requires the operator licence to be displayed at each business location.

Because section 5(1) covers offering to perform an extermination, an ad for weed control or grub treatment using pesticides is an offer. The licences should be in place before the ad goes live, not after the first job.

"Weed control" and "grub treatment" are fine when the products you use are on the Allowable List, or when the work is non-chemical. "Poison ivy and giant hogweed removal" is a real exception service, within section 23's limits. Promising a weed-free lawn with a product you cannot legally use is not.

Neither the Act nor the regulation uses "organic" as a category; the legal line is the list. Marketing claims fall under section 74.01 of the Competition Act: a representation that is false or misleading in a material respect is reviewable, performance claims such as "kills 99% of weeds" must rest on an adequate and proper test, and so must claims that a product protects the environment. A "we re-treat until it works" guarantee must be one you can keep.

If your site sells products, section 95 of the regulation bars offering to sell a pesticide unless you are authorised to sell it. Ontario's licensing page lists a Limited class vendor licence for Class D products at $110, with some exemptions for small Class D containers.

Section 74 requires a licensed applicator treating a residential lawn to post Sign C, a Notice, if the product's only active ingredients are on the list, or Sign D, a Warning, if not. Section 77 requires the signs immediately before treatment, at least every 100 metres along the parts of the area near a neighbouring home or a street. They may not go on trees, fences or buildings.

Section 75 limits branding: the front may carry only words identifying your company or the property owner, in a strip no more than 2.5 centimetres high at the bottom of Sign C or D. Under section 81, signs stay up at least 48 hours after treatment, come down within 10 days, and you must tell the customer these rules in writing.

In the footer: your registered business name and operator licence number. The regulation requires the number on a vehicle marker, not online, but customers can look up operator licences issued since September 2018 in the ministry's Access Environment map, and the name should match. On service pages, say your applicators hold Landscape class licences and name the active ingredients you use, or say you use only Allowable List products. Explain the Notice sign in your FAQ so customers expect it. Our notes on websites for landscapers cover the rest of the site.

This is a plain summary of the Pesticides Act and O. Reg. 63/09 as of November 2026, not legal advice; the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks answers licensing questions at 1-800-461-6290.

• Pesticides Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. P.11 — sections 1, 5 and 7.1 (e-Laws)
• O. Reg. 63/09: General — sections 16 to 31, 35 to 38, 51, 68, 74 to 81, 87 to 95 (e-Laws, last amended by O. Reg. 104/24)
• Ontario — Using pesticides in Ontario (Allowable List, Version 5)
• Ontario — Pesticides (home lawns and gardens)
• Ontario — Guide to pesticide classes
• Ontario — Pesticide licences and permits
• Ontario — Guide to pesticide licensing
• Competition Act, s. 74.01

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